Darkness
by Imitation1
Summary: I started writing this and just wanted some peoples opinions :) After the war of the four beings humans have gained control of our world, but a creature born of darkness seems to think this is not particularly fair and takes it upon himself to change things. - prologue inside
1. Prologue

Prologue

Many years ago there was a tragedy, it would not be uncommon if you have never heard of this tragedy… in fact I'd be increasingly surprised if you have. However this does not matter, as your narrator and guide I will reveal to you the secrets that have been hidden and the lore that was long forgotten. Perhaps you require more of an explanation before I truly begin? I suppose that is understandable, after all tales are never as linear as they first appear and this one is no exception.

Before mankind was established to what we know now there were fractions of _beings_, well that is the term we shall give them for now, these beings were from a number of origins; demons from hell and their vampiric slaves, the fallen angels and other heavenly beings, the beasts of earth and of course mankind itself. Understandably this age was wrought with war and disaster, and perhaps mankind may not have won if things had gone differently. Though I digress that is a story for another time, no, the tragedy to which I referred to happened in far more recent memory… well recent for me, I do often forget how long mortal memories last. All that you will require to know for my current story is that the humans did in fact win but the cost of their win lulled them into safety, no longer do they fear the other beings and this fact alone enraged a select few.

I'm sure by now you're wondering what I'm getting at and what exactly do the four groups of beings have to do with the tale I originally endeavoured to share with you, well in fact surprisingly a lot, after all "our history writes our futures"…. Or something like that anyway. So I thought it would be important for you to learn from your ancestors mistakes, or at the very least inform you of them. I suppose however we have dallied far too long and I should begin the tale.


	2. Chapter 1 - The disapearances

Chapter 1

The Disappearances- 1898 - 1998

John was a poor man; he had pride but nothing to be proud of, he would gloat with nothing to gloat over and he would fight when nothing was left to fight about. I suppose it is these traits that made him particularly unfavourable with everyone he were to meet, in the town where he had lived he was known as an idiotic drunkard and perhaps it is why he was not missed all too much when he was the first to go missing. People had assumed he had skipped town due to debts of some description, and similarly when the merchant Patrick disappeared people had believed him to have gone on to find better horizons with more amiable customers who'd pay his ludicrous prices. It was not until the children and young women began to disappear that the townspeople began to cry out, beseeching authorities to look for people and suspicion began to replace benign ignorance.

The bodies were discovered of course, the killers had no intention of hiding their crimes… in fact I'm sure they were rather pleased with themselves, it was an impressive feat to capture and annihilate so many ignorant humans whilst their "friends" and "family" rested so close by. The bodies had been placed in the woods on the south border of the town, I believe there were 32 bodies in total ranging from the ages of 5 to 46, I will not delve into too much detail of the conditions of the bodies but will merely add that amongst the decaying corpses there were several notes that read the same thing.

"_This place will be the first,_

_ We will mark the ignorance of man with the death of your brethren as you had marked our people with your damned victory. The world is not what you believe, you may have forgotten us and shrouded us in darkness but that is just fine, you have forgotten…_

_WE OWN THE DARKNESS"_

The town was in chaos upon the discovery of the notes, no one dared to leave the safety of their homes after dark, and oil lamps were often kept lit all night long. However this did not disrupt the disappearances, though rather than one person going missing at a time whole households now disappeared. It was now that the bodies became difficult to find, the woods surrounding the town had been checked after the first discovery and no more had been revealed and soon the town became empty, people fled fearing a "curse" and took the stories with them. They had played into the forgotten beings hands, the world will know them and fear them.

It was not until sometime later when all communication with the affected town was lost did anyone decide to check, I believe it was a group of officers and a clergyman from a nearby homestead that were first to investigate near the latter part of 1899. What they discovered was a dead town, there were no plants and the floors showed what appeared to be scorch marks and across the walls of the buildings the same message was repeated "WE OWN THE DARKNESS" scrawled in what the officers presumed was blood. No more bodies were found and it seemed the graveyards had been emptied… the single clergyman present prayed incessantly, and once free from the scene described it as "an image from the most warped mind that has almost assuredly touched hell… No mortal soul should be subject to that place." And so the word spread, the darkness should be feared.

And what of the beings behind these crimes? Well undoubtedly the beasts and demons had played their roles so delightfully, led by a singular ideal presented to them by a mysterious man, distorted with resentment from the long forgotten wars; the beings had been easy enough to manipulate and now he had the power to control, to some degree, almost all beings that graced our earth. He claimed the humans had cheated their way to victory when they made the damned alliance with the heavenly beings, promising to guard the earth against the other two groups as long as the heavenly beings were to leave after the wars and what if they failed to guard the earth? What if the other beings rose up against them? Well, the man argued that is exactly what should happen, and under his guidance it is what would happen. Perhaps I should give this gentleman a better introduction, after all he is our main star, the man who lurks in the darkness, the one who doesn't belong, "_Lord_ Garrius" is the title we will give him, even if it is only to appease his ego.

Now as you may or may not have guessed Garrius did not belong to any of the beings, he is a creature unique in all his rights, born from darkness and ignorance he has cause to make even the devils in hell fear him. Although with a simple glance you may not always believe this, to most he would look unassuming enough, almost human if you will but if you look longer and watch his eyes closely you'll find nothing. And I mean that in all literal senses, his eyes appear as an unending black depth and his expressions remarkably shallow, for a human it may be easier to miss but for any of the other beings it would be as plain as the text you are reading; Garrius simply was not there, he was nothing and yet he held so much power that even the strongest demons bended to his will in the end.


	3. Chapter 2- Entertainment

Chapter 2

Entertainment-1900

It was the turn of the century, many humans celebrated another year despite the knowledge that more and more towns had been affected by the disappearances, truthfully no town had been wiped out like the first but the human stocks were being decimated all the same. And it was in such an afflicted town that Garrius was. Unlike the beings under his command he made a show to go out in public, posing as a traveling lord, to blend in with the beings he detested and see just how his work was affecting them. He found it hard to hide his grin as he spoke with the baker's wife who was rather concerned for their youngest daughter who had gone missing the night before.

"I know how difficult it must be for you, May, but we must hope that the girl is simply hiding, you know how she can be." He encouraged smiling at the woman who gave a nod in response.

"I hope your right my Lord, after all she has always been an impudent girl…" May paused, had she just said that? About her own daughter who was now likely a prisoner of some demons or worse… glancing at Garrius she seemed to pale. "Excuse me sir." She muttered hurrying off.

This is how it always was, Garrius could encourage people to admit their darkest feelings with a few simple words. He'd been in this town for two months and the inhabitants were torn between accepting him as the eccentric rich lord he claimed to be or fearing the dark figure they suspected he was. But they had no proof to oust him with and were forced to accept his words. He wouldn't deny it though, Garrius loved the look of suspicion on a humans face when they realised what they'd said to him, though in truth it was the look of fear he truly adored. Though if his men were responsible for capturing the girl he would soon be made aware and perhaps he'll take pleasure in disposing of this one himself, it would be entertaining to explain to the girl how her mother was happy to be rid of a child like her and see the panic as she realised she would die without anyone caring.

The day would continue in much the same way as usual; he would offer mock consolation to grieving people that dared speak to him, perhaps share a debate with those who considered themselves higher than the average filth and once the sun set he would meet with his men. The beings who Garrius would meet with were either messengers from further towns who would boast the "fleetest feet" and message relay times and the generals of nearer conquests. The humans that had been taken captive or killed were presented to Garrius who would judge whether or not they were appropriate victims and of course if there was a certain victim he wanted to kill himself he would take that pleasure from whichever being was responsible. And tonight is exactly one of those nights, he glanced at the beast who was in charge of the territory.

"You have captured a young girl, a baker's child, if I'm not mistaken." The beast nodded in response. Garrius noted that he was a Snake beast, though prone to keep secrets they were harmless enough when handled with the right amount of guile.

"Yes, Lord. She was captured last night wondering the streets." He replied squaring his shoulders slightly after being addressed by his leader.

"After dark? A most dangerous disposition with our men around wouldn't you agree?" Garrius queried, truthfully what he knew of this girl she was strong willed but far from an idiot… perhaps she was meeting someone, a sweetheart who he could cut down in front of her before finishing the pitiful creature off. The snake beast laughed slightly but was cut off by a glance from Garrius. "Bring this girl to me. I haven't had the pleasure of cutting a human down in some time." He ordered dismissing the rest of the beasts and demons with a wave of his hand. As the rest of his men left Garrius noted one soul lingered behind. "What do you want?"

"Now Garrius, you know I am merely an overseer of your little game but now I'm curious, why would you want to kill this girl? I have seen you kill hundreds of humans, I find it hard to believe that this one will bring you any more entertainment."

Garrius turned to look at the man and let an amused grin slip onto his face. "No, I guess a fallen angel like you wouldn't understand. Your kind rarely find any fun in anything."

The angel huffed slightly "That is not what I mean."

"Well, dearest Akiel, perhaps I should explain to you how entertaining it truly is." Garrius glanced at the angel who looked half interested at least. "This one in particular is a head strong girl, her own mother has considered that life would be better without her now that alone is an amusing aspect to me. After all humans are supposed to be the most caring of each other, willing to fight for others safety but when you look at them like this we can see just how little they care for one another. Not to mention the girl was out after dark, which you know as well as the others makes her fair game for yours truly."

Akiel nodded. "I suppose but when it's not as fun as you expect don't complain to me, we both know you've long since bored of the screams of humans."

"You know that is a sound I don't think I'll ever tire of." Garrius countered as the snake demon returned with the petrified girl.

"Pl-please don't! I promise I- I won't set foot out when it's dark again…." Her gaze fell on Garrius. "My Lord? Please! I swear I won't tell anyone that it is your doings!"

Garrius grinned darkly "My dear, you don't have a choice. I'm afraid even your family have expressed minimal concern of your disappearance, if I were to let you go then you would only be in a place where no one cared for you." The girls eyes widened as Garrius bent down to be at her eye level. "But you shouldn't worry, you're going to provide me with some entertainment at least." He patted the top of the girls head before standing up again. "Snake, what is your name?"

The snake beast looked up shocked "It's Serkal my Lord."

"Well Serkal, perhaps you would like to witness true entertainment." Garrius muttered laughing.

And well, I'm sure you all can picture what happens next, Garrius tortures the poor dear until her mind is shattered and she wishes for death and finally he allows her to pass on. Even the snake beast Serkal looked rather pale during some parts… though perhaps he was just cold, reptiles are like that. And as the sun came up Garrius would step back from what was left of the girl laughing slightly.

"It was a true delight to spend my evening with you dear." He mocked lightly "Perhaps we shall do this again, after all your screams were so beautiful." He laughed again, nudging the body with his foot. "Hm, perhaps not. You don't seem to have much courtesy when it comes to answering your Lords." He turned his back on the girl. "Serkal, dispose of her." The snake beast nodded as he began to clear up what was left of the girl.

Akiel watched thoughtfully. "Was it as much fun as you expected?" he queried.

"Oh most definitely." Garrius cast a glance back to the bloodstains on the floor. "It's a shame they don't last longer though… it's hardly any fun when they stop screaming." He huffed slightly.

"Perhaps you need to think of a new entertainment after all, hiding in the shadows and relishing what few scream you find is hardly the most entertaining occupation." Akiel muttered slightly bored with Garrius' complaints, after all he was always like this, gleeful during the kill but as soon as he has had his fun he once again falls into this depressive slump.

Garrius nodded "You know my friend I suspect you may be right… Hiding in the shadows is only so fun. We should make ourselves known, bask in the fear we cause, leaving no human a moment of solace. Inform the generals to meet me here in a week, if they do not arrive in person they will lose their place. No messengers."

Akiel bowed slightly "Of course, _Lord Garrius_." He mocked slightly before heading out, it was true that fallen angels found few things entertaining but Akiel had a feeling that Garrius would provide some entertainment at least.


End file.
